Well, hello everyone! Though I am a new member here, I have been browsing this forum since the days when I had full hair on my head

Anyway, I have had this 98 Bravada for about a decade now, and recently it has started to make a raging machine gun-like sound when coming to a complete stop. I finally took the time today to look under it to see what's going on. Please refer to the following pictorial that I ripped off from another member's post (Porkfriedrice @ blazerforum) because my hands were too dirty for my camera:




The item circled in red is able to happily revolve around 360' without a single care in this world. This mount strikes with the lower control arm during deceleration to a complete stop. Now, dear friends, should I throw a fit at this truck because I need a new control arm, or is there any other solution out there that I can implement besides welding? Thank you for your patience.

 

Besides welding it, there really isn't much else you can do besides replace the control arm as far as I know. I've had this same thing happen on two different vehicles, a 2000 Jimmy and a 2003 Blazer. Both were welded at one point and neither one held for very long. I replaced both control arms myself on the Jimmy and Blazer, so if you decide to do it and haven't done it before I can give you some tips to do the job.

 

Both were welded at one point and neither one held for very long. Who welded them?

 

The Jimmy was welded by Midas when I went to them for new shocks, didn't even know it was broken. Shortly after this I started doing my own work on my vehicles. The Blazer was welded by the dealer that I bought it from. The way that these things break, there isn't that much material left to weld to make a strong joint.

 

I would weld it then overlap a piece and weld that to it

 

^this^ add some material back to it with an overlap and it will never break again if done properly.

 

Yep, stronger than new

 

Thanks for your replies guys! Is there any possibility that the aftermarket l/c arms come with a different design for the mount? I was looking at some pics online and to me it appears that might be the case.

I think weld won't be able to take the stress these things usually undergo. I am now seriously leaning toward replacing the entire l/c arm if it now comes with a different design, and be done with it. What do you guys think?

 

Dont waste your money, they`re all welded anyway

 

I'll take you up on your advice and just weld it. Thanks again!